[quote M65BCWT8O55D05AL][quote BB34FLN1X1F4ZF54]Meantime, the PR guys at Lincoln claimed that the Mark III had no model year because it had "timeless" styling. All of the company photos of the Mark III I've seen have no year on the number plate. The PR claim was undermined by Ford PR itself who released separate production figures for 1968 and 1969: 7770 and 23,088 respectively. By the time 1972 rolled around, Mr Iacocca was happy to put a date on it. That was the first year the Mark (IV) outsold the Cadillac Eldorado (48,597 to 40,074).[/quote] All the brochures for the Mark III (and the rest of the Lincoln range) are dated, but in a very subtle way. None of the cars inside the 1969 and 1970 brochures have any sort of number plate that identifies a year. However, the 1971 Mark III does have the year on the plate, even though it's in muted shades. By 1972, as you say, they were up to dating them, but it was for the Mark IV introduced that year; "For 1972, Continental introduces a new Mark."